The Abu Dhabi Family and Civil and Administrative Cases Court obligated an insurance company, a doctor and a one-day surgery centre to pay a patient Dhs250,000 in compensation for the physical and moral damages he sustained due to a medical error during a hernia surgery at the centre. The court also obligated the defendants to pay the legal fees and charges. The surgery caused the patient’s colon to be perforated, which necessitated another corrective surgery to be performed for the patient.
Earlier, the patient filed a lawsuit against a vascular surgeon and a medical centre, in which he stated that he felt symptoms of fatigue and consequently went to a one-day surgery centre.
After being examined, the patient underwent an inguinal hernia operation but two days later, he felt severe colic in the area of the surgery with pallor and yellowing in his body. The patient used to feel more pain after eating, accompanied by a drop in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, high temperature, and constipation.
He explained that he contacted the doctor, who assured him that there was no cause for concern and asked him to use laxative suppositories for the stomach. As he was still feeling more pain, the patient went to another hospital, where a CT scan showed there were holes in the colon and consequently he was transferred directly to the operating room for his colon end to be removed. He was later placed in intensive care for four days.
The patient confirmed that when he lodged a complaint, the medical liability committee concluded that there was a medical error on the part of the doctor as evidenced in his failure to take enough caution when performing the hernia repair surgery, which caused his colon to be perforated and required him to undergo a corrective surgery. As a result of that error, the patient suffered excruciating pains and was unable to move and work, not to mention the fear and terror that afflicted him, the expenses of treatment that he had to bear and his inability to lead a normal life.
The patient demanded that the doctor and the medical centre be obligated to pay him Dhs2 million in compensation for his physical harm that he sustained. He left it to the court to estimate the moral harm that befell him and to obligate them to pay the legal fees and expenses and lawyer’s fees.
The lawyer for the doctor and the medical centre demanded that the insurance company be included in the lawsuit, noting that all the doctors and nurses working for the centre were insured against medical errors and medical malpractice.
The court pointed out that the doctor, who worked for the centre and under its supervision, committed a medical error and consequently should assume responsibility for the physical and moral harm sustained by the patient.